José Antonio Navarro : in search of the American Dream in nineteenth-century Texas / by David McDonald ; foreword by Arnoldo De León.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Roots, 1762-1816 -- Emerging leader, 1816-22 -- The making of a legislator, 1822-28 -- Businessman, land commissioner, and politician, 1828-35 -- Mexican-Texan, 1835-40 -- Statesman and prisoner, 1840-45 -- Tejano spokesman, 1845-53 -- Elder statesman, 1853-71 -- Appendix one : Margarita de La Garza -- Appendix two : Henry Navarro notes -- Appendix three : José Antonio Navarro's will.

Born in San Antornio in 1795, José Navarro lived through an era in Texas history that saw the transitions of Texas from a Spanish colony to a Mexican state, an independent republic, an American state, a Confederate state, and an American state once again. He was a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and a steadfast defender of the rights of all Tejanos and people of Mexican descent in Texas.